With my 50mm lens it seems like the only way to get an indoor picture to come out right with proper exposure is to have it set to the widest aperture and a slower shutter speed. Thus requiring a tripod (which I bought one of tonight).

Has anyone else come across this or is it just something I am doing wrong?

***dominantly, do you see why I need to be in your school now? I will be pming you tonight after my kids are in bed and I get my shots!

Your other option is to raise your ISO (and also suffer the increased noise this will bring) to allow for a smaller aperture and or faster shutter speed. Indoors is very dark when you are a camera and our eyes are very adaptive so we don't notice it as much.

The other option is to boost the local lighting - flash - spotlamps even a reflector can help to redirect light onto the subject and lift shadows a bit.